Apr

4

1940

Chamberlain claims Hitler has 'missed the bus'

Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister, until 10th May 1940

In a speech to the Conservative Party at Central Hall, Westminster the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, states that he is confident of victory and claims that the Government has now made good its initial weaknesses and unpreparedness compared with the German aggressor:

The result was that when war did break out German preparations were far ahead of our own, and it was natural then to expect that the enemy would take advantage of his initial superiority to make an endeavour to overwhelm us and France before we had time to make good our deficiencies. Is it not a very extraordinary thing that no such attempt was made? Whatever may be the reason—whether it was that Hitler thought he might get away with what he had got without fighting for it, or whether it was that after all the preparations were not sufficiently complete—however, one thing is certain: he missed the bus.